Pharmacist gets 2 years in Ohio pain pill case

FILE-This undated photo released by the U.S. Marshal Service shows Harold Fletcher. Fletcher, linked by the government to two drug overdose deaths, was sentenced to two years in prison Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. Fletcher was originally charged with more than 200 counts of illegally dispensing prescription drugs from his east side Columbus pharmacy.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Ohio pharmacist linked by the government to two drug overdose deaths but never charged in those cases was sentenced to two years in prison Monday for illegally dispensing pain pills.

Harold Fletcher was also ordered to pay a $75,000 fine and $275,000 in restitution to the IRS, and must serve a year in home detention after his release from prison. He must perform more than 200 hours of community service the year after that.

Fletcher, 43, ran a Columbus pharmacy and was responsible for illegally dispensing thousands of prescription painkillers, government prosecutors alleged in late 2010.

But the more than 200 counts against Fletcher were ultimately dropped when he agreed to plead guilty to one count of illegally dispensing pills, along with filing a false tax return and hiding money by making cash deposits under a limit that triggers an automatic bank review.

Fletcher voluntarily gave up his pharmacist's license last year, and as part of his plea deal has agreed to have nothing to do with pharmacies or prescribing drugs again.

Fletcher fell victim to greed, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley said at Monday's sentencing.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said Fletcher filled painkiller prescriptions for Leslie Cooper of West Portsmouth in southern Ohio on Oct. 2, 2009, the day before she was found dead of an overdose, according to DEA records.

The DEA says several pills, including some not prescribed by Fletcher, as well as "a silver spoon with white residue on it and a needle with no cap on it" were found near Cooper's body. Cooper's family has acknowledged she was an addict.

Cooper's mother, Barbara Howard, testified before Fletcher was sentenced that as far as he was concerned, "all she looked like to you was money."

"Don't forget her name, because I'll never forget yours," Howard said, holding up a photograph of Cooper, who was 34 when she died.

In brief comments, Fletcher apologized to his son for the time he would be away in prison and thanked friends and family who supported him.

Afterward, Fletcher's attorney, Brad Barbin, said Fletcher cannot be blamed for dispensing pills to someone who didn't follow the directions on the bottle. He said Fletcher had made mistakes. But he also said the DEA hadn't told the whole truth about the case or the charges against Fletcher.